A quick article highlighting how the trend in aggregate number of unit starts, across the whole of the NEM, highlights the scale of one of the core underlying changes (and challenges) facing us in the NEM’s energy transition.

A collection of thoughts that have been bumping around in my head for some time about the latest push by various parties to facilitate a broader range of demand response in the NEM, and whether there are better options

A note of caution, that Demand Response is not a magic wand – it *can* achieve a lot, but if can’t be assumed to automatically appear to bridge any gap between supply and demand in a market model, for instance.

One more example of not focusing on the real problems seems to be a tendency for some to obsess about one narrow type of Demand Response (i.e. dispatch of NegaWatts) whilst seeming to lose focus of what the overall objective is (a more active and responsive demand side).

Yesterday I noted what appeared to be trips of two solar farms – Gannawarra and Karadoc – within a single dispatch interval and coincident with a period of volatile prices. Also yesterday, Dylan McConnell flagged a drop in output at the brown coal plant around the same time, with some questions. With the benefit of access to yesterday’s bids, today I have a look at the 5 power stations (pending a broader review next week by guest author, Allan O’Neil).

Now that summer 2018-19 has passed, we can reflect on our experiences as a new entrant energy services company facilitating spot exposure for residential energy users – and hence expanding the scope for Demand Response in the NEM.

In the process of assembling a long-range data set on how much every single generator has contributed to the price of Energy in each Region of the NEM (which we’re doing for our Generator Report Card 2018) we’ve pulled some preliminary analysis together here of how many dispatch intervals since 1st January 2018 see the Price Setter files highlight instances of setting the price ranging:
from “Very Simple” (at Category 1)
… to “Very Complex” (at Category 5)

Taking a brief (well, actually longer than intended) look into the various factors that delivered a price spike above $10,000/MWh on Thursday 31st January in NSW – and thinking through the implications for one particular Demand Response client, and for the broader market.

The Queensland region of the NEM saw a new all-time record for peak electricity demand today (Wed 13th February 2019) by several different measures. A bit later in the evening we take a brief look at a few different factors.

As part of the process of compilation of our Generator Report Card 2018, we’re delving into quite some detail into various aspects of generator bidding and re-bidding. Today I thought it might be useful to share some *very early and preliminary* observations that we’re starting to see when trending and categorising rebids.

AGL released its investor presentation yesterday – several people flagged the availability stats within the presentation (they knew we were looking at aspects of reliability for our Generator Report Card 2018). Hence I take a brief detour and have a quick look.